Chapter 20 – The Talk

"Riley what happened with Josh? You have to tell me or I'm going to sit on you until you do," Maya said while they were getting ready for bed. It was the third night of the trip and Josh hadn't had the chance to talk to Maya because he was busy helping with the rest of the seniors.

"Maya it's up to Josh to tell you, not me him. I have other problems to deal with so please stop pushing yours onto mine," Riley said trying to ignore the fact that she hadn't had the chance to talk to Lucas alone since they got to the hotel. Her father had attached himself to her and hadn't left her alone since. She wanted to talk to him about their relationship and other stuff but her father seemed to know what she was thinking because he stopped her at every turn.

"What problems do you have? You're in a good relationship, you kiss your boyfriend everyday by the lockers, hell even Smackle gets more action than I do."

"Please don't bring me into any of this, I'm still adjusting to kissing Farkle," Smackle said trying to hide her face.

"Aww Smackle you're so cute, you and Farkle are so adorable," Riley said as she put her arm around her friend. "Don't worry you will grow, yes it takes a while and I know that you're not comfortable with certain things but you and Farkle are getting closer by the day, you're attached at the hip and maybe one day you could get married and have little geniuses running around."

"Well that's embarrassing," Maya said sticking out her tongue. "Now stop deflecting away from my problems and tell me what he said."

"Maya," Riley said standing up. Maya wasn't wearing heels so Riley towered over her friend but she could never intimidate her so she did the first thing she could think about and shoved her into the bathroom and shoving a chair under the door.

"Riley what the hell are you doing," Maya's muffled voice said from the other side of the door.

Riley turned to Smackle and smiled, "Do me a favor wait five minutes before opening the door, I need a head start."

"Riley I'm going to kick your ass if you don't let me out right now," Maya yelled.

"Please Smackle."

"Alright but you better run," Smackle said.

Riley ran out of the room at top speed, she was wearing bunny pajamas but hoped that no one would care since they were in a hotel. Her father would be asleep by now because she did her best to exhaust him during the day. She wanted a moment of quiet to think about what she wanted from her relationship. She knew that they would have to have the talk but she wanted to make sure when she was ready to take that step. As she rounded the corner in the lobby where the doors that led to the beach were when she ran into someone. When she looked up she saw Lucas with a bag of snack in his hand.

"Lucas," she squealed.

"Hey Riley… um why are you running?"

"Well I locked Maya in the bathroom and took a five-minute head start because she was driving me crazy. Josh hasn't had the chance to talk to her yet and I promised I wouldn't say anything. So now I have to go hide before she finds me and kills me for locking her away."

"You wanna go to the beach? We could take a walk," he said looking into her eyes.

"Um… yeah that would be nice, especially since we're not allowed to leave the hotel so she wouldn't think that I actually left."

The two of them walked out the back doors and onto the sandy beach, the sand was cool to the touch now that it was night but it felt good to Riley's feet. The stars shined over their heads and the moon lit the way to the water. Lucas took her hand and pulled her towards the water where the life guard tower stood, her heart started pounding in her chest reminding her about what his presence did to her.

"Now that we're far enough away from the hotel we can relax, unless she has some kind of telepathic ability and knows where you are at all times," he said smiling at her.

"Lucas we haven't had the chance to talk since we got here, mainly because my father became an evil dictator and decided that I would never be allowed alone at all during this trip."

"I noticed… so what do you want to talk about?"

"Well we're almost done with senior year, and I'll be eighteen at the end of the year, and you're going to be nineteen. By September we'll be in a new place and a new school and new problems are going to come up."

"Riley what are you trying to tell me?"

"Um… well…" she took a deep breath. "Lucas I'm talking about sex," she felt the heat rush to her face and before he could see her face as red as an apple she looked down at her hands.

"Oh," he said. "Riley, I'm not going to ask you to do something if you're not ready, I want you to know that. When we're both ready to take that step we will but until that time has come we will take everything one step at a time."

She looked up at him knowing that his words were what she needed to hear. "A lot of people at school find it weird that we haven't… well you know, and that we've been in this relationship for over six months, but I'm glad that you said that. In reality I don't think I'm ready to take that step just yet, I'm scared of what would happen to our relationship if I gave into peer pressure."

"Riley," he said looking directly at her. "I don't care what anyone else says, all that matters is what we're ready for. Honestly I wouldn't mind waiting for several reasons, one of them is your father who would run me over with his car if he ever found out."

"So, we don't have to worry, well for now anyway. Can we talk about it every once and a while that way when we're ready to take that step we're prepared for it?"

"We don't worry, talking is what we do best, and in the end it's what's going to keep us grounded. When we're ready it will happen."

"Good," she said laying her head on his shoulder. "Can we stay here for a little while and watch the stars?"

"Sure, it's a good thing I have snacks. Let's finally have our picnic."

She nodded at him and turned to face the bag he was carrying. They stayed there until just after midnight, it had gotten too cold for them to be out there in pajamas. The rest of the trip they were more relaxed and talked as much as they could even when her father hovered around her. Riley also made sure that Josh and Maya had their talk and when they were done Maya's attitude towards her life had changed. She was happy because the boy she loved was following them to Pennbrook and Riley was glad that her best friend was getting the happiness she deserved.

On the ride home as everyone slept Riley thought about whether she was ready to take that step with Lucas, she wasn't but she knew that she would be because she loved him. She decided to give them until their one-year anniversary before she made up her mind. They had another six months until that day came, maybe she would be ready by then.